| Pesach Sheni | |
|---|---|
 Many eat matzo on Pesach Sheni in remembrance of the Korban Pesach | |
| Official name | Hebrew: פסח שני |
| Also called | Translation: "Second Passover" |
| Observed by | Jews |
| Type | Jewish |
| Significance | Day to make up the Korban Pesach (Pascal lamb sacrifice) if missed on Passover |
| Celebrations | Some Chasidic Jews conduct a seder resembling a Passover seder |
| Date | 14th day of Iyar |
| 2023 date | Sunset, 4 May – nightfall, 5 May |
| 2024 date | Sunset, 21 May – nightfall, 22 May |
| 2025 date | Sunset, 11 May – nightfall, 12 May |
| 2026 date | Sunset, 30 April – nightfall, 1 May |
| Related to | Passover |
 Lambs were used for the Passover sacrifice. | |
| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Torah: | Numbers 9:1–14 |
| Mishnah: | Pesahim 9:1–4 |
| Babylonian Talmud: | Pesahim 92b-96a |
Pesach Sheni (Hebrew: פסח שני, trans. Second Passover) occurs every year on 14 Iyar. This is exactly one month after 14 Nisan, the day before Passover, which was the day prescribed for bringing the Korban Pesach ("Paschal offering", i.e. Passover lamb) in anticipation of that holiday.[1] As described in the source text for this mitzvah (Numbers 9:1–14), the Israelites were about to celebrate Passover one year after leaving Egypt.
The offering of the Korban Pesach was at the core of that celebration. However "certain men"[2] were ritually impure from contact with human corpses, and were therefore ineligible to participate in the Korban Pesach. Faced with the conflict of the requirement to participate in the Korban Pesach and their ineligibility due to impurity, they approached Moses and Aaron for instructions, which resulted in the communication of the law of Pesach Sheni.[3]
- ^ Leviticus 23:5
- ^ A baraita cited in the Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 25b offers two separate opinions: those carrying the body of Joseph (son of Jacob) (as per Genesis 50:25), or those who buried Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu (as a consequence of the events of Leviticus 10:1–7). However, the Gemara rejects both of those possibilities and simply says that they had dealt with a met mitzvah (an unidentified person who had died).
- ^ Rashi, commenting on 9:7 and quoting Sifrei, suggests that the law was communicated in this way in order to reward the merit of those who asked.